Elevator guide device



NOV. 22, 1949 L JASEPH 2,489,140

7 ELEVATOR GUIDE DEVICE Filed Nov. 30, 1946 2 Shets-Sheet 1 ,Qwem/aw jam/ auce Nov. 22, 1949 L. F. JASEF'H ELEVATOR GUIDE DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 30, 1946 'Il II/Illllll Patented Nov. 22, 1949 EEEVATOR' GUIDE DEVICE LawrenceF. Jaseph, Memphis, Tenn, assignor to Rotary Lift Company, Memphis, Tenn, a corporation. of Delaware Application November 30, 1946, Serial No. 713,373

10. Claims.

This invention relates to elevator guides and particularly to,- the; guide means carried by the elevator car itself for engagement with. guide rails at the sides of the car. The invention has been developed for. application to elevators designed for loads too largeand with platforms too long to be safely guided by a: single pair of rails of the heaviest standard. weight. Heretofore in such cases two pairs of rails. have been employed to supply adequate support to such elevators but, when both the elevator structure and the means. supporting the guide rails. were made rigid, it was found practically impossible. to distribute the pressure of the guide. shoes on the rails equallybetween the two pairs. Furthermore it was found difficult to align, the. two, rails of each pair accurately enough so that the car would travel freely even without-load- The present invention provides equalizing, means which permits relative motion between, the two shoes engaging the two rails of the pair at each side of the car so that even when the rails. are; not quite parallel the shoes will. not bind and the, bearing pressure will be distributed equally between. them.

It is, therefore, anobject, ofthis invention to provide new and improved. guide means; for an elevator car designed tocooperate with a pair of guide rails disposed. in substantially parallel relation at one side of the-car and, adapted to. distribute the bearing pressure. equally between. the two rails.

Another object of the invention is to. provide a pair of elevator guide shoes for engagement respectively with a pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation and means interconnecting the guide shoes for. simultaneous movement in opposite directions to. compensate for any inaccuracy in, the spacing of the guide rails.

More specifically the invention provides an elevator guide device for use with a pair of, guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation, the guide device including a pair of guide shoes to engagethe rails respectively and lever elements to which the guide shoes are attached, and which are interconnected for simultaneous, movement in. opposite direction about their respective fulcrums so as to equalize the hearing pressure of the guide shoes on the rails, notwithstanding slight inaccuracies in the spacing of the rails.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connectionwith the drawings. in, which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an elevator.

car showing a pair of. guide. rails at. oneside of the showing a modified form of guide device embody-- ing the invention;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken-as indicated at line 55 on Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a detail elevation showing another modified form of the invention;

Fig. 'l is a fragmentary perspective View show' ing portions of an elevator car frame and guide rails therefor. and illustrating a further modification of the invention; and

Fig. 8 is a horizontal detail section taken as indicated at line 8-8 on Fig. '7.

Fig. 1 illustrates a typical elevator car construction in which the platform It]; is supported by a sling consisting of a cross beam 12 attached to vertically extending side members or stiles I lv which. are connected at their upper ends to a cross head or beam 16. The platform is braced and steadied by diagonal tie rods I8. and it will be understood that such an elevator car may be either suspended and operated by cables 26, as shown in Fig. 1, or may be carried upon a hydraulic plunger extending downwardly from the cross beam i2. The parallel guide rails 22, 22 of T-shaped cross section are mounted at each side of the elevator car, and near the upper and lower ends of the stiles I I the car is provided with guide devices to engage these rails.

As shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3, each guide device includes a pair of. grooved shoes 24 which respectively engage the rails 22 by embracing them as shown in Fig. 3 so that said shoes slidably follow the contour of the rails as the elevator travels up or down. The stile I4 is provided with bracket means shown in the form of ears 26 extending from opposite sides of the stile in pairs spaced apart with lever elements 28 and 30 fulcrumed between them on pivots 32. The levers 28 and 30 are in the nature of bell cranks and, as shown, the shorter arm of each of said levers is pivotally engaged with a trunnion 34 extending from one of the shoes 24. The longer arms of the levers are connected by a pair of similar links 36 and pivots 38.

With this arrangement it will be seen that if at any point either of the guide rails is deflected toward or from the other rail so, as to cause a slight variation in the spacing between them, the guide shoe 24, in following the deflection of the rail, can move freely toward or from the other guide shoe without cramping or binding of the guide shoes against the rails. The movement of one shoe toward the other, causing one of the lever arms, 28 or 30, to be rocked about its fulcrum 32, will be accompanied by an equal and opposite movement of the other lever about its fulcrum. If at this point the other guide rail is perfectly straight, the final effect of the deflection of the one guide rail will be a shifting of the stile I4 of the elevator car by half the amount of the deflection of the guide rail. This slight lateral movement of the car during its vertical travel is unimportant; the primary advantage of the floating arrangement of the guide shoes with respect to the car is the equal division of bearing pressure against the two guide rails at all times and the prevention of tightness or binding which would result if the shoes were spaced apart by a fixed distance and could not yield to slight variations in the spacing of the rails.

Figures 4 and 5 present a variation of the equalizing mechanism in which the stile member 40 is provided with lugs or ears 42 on which the levers 44 are fulcrummed by pivots 46. Each of the levers 44 consists of two members, as shown in Fig. 5, with notched ends and knife-edged blocks 48 engaged in their notches. Tie links in the form of rods 50 connect the blocks 48 so that the levers 44 and links 50 form a parallelogram which permits the levers 44 to swing about their fulcrums 46 but requires them to move together and by equal angular amounts.

The guide rails 22 are similar to those previously described and the shoes 24 may be substantially like those of Figs. 2 and 3. At the middle of its length each guide shoe is pivotally attached to one of the levers 44 by means of a trunnion 52;

but, as seen in Fig. 4, one of the trunnions is disposed above the fulcrum 46 of the lever to which it is connected while the other trunnion 52 is disposed below the fulcrum 46 of the other lever. Thus, any lateral movement of one of the guide shoes 24, due to inaccurate alignment of its guide rail 22, will result in a slight movement of its connected lever 44 about its fulcrum 46, and a corresponding change in the distance between the trunnions 52 of the two shoes 24. The shoes thus accommodate themselves to the variation in spacing between the guide rails 22, and the bearing pressures are equally distributed between them.

The modification shown in Fig. 6 employs gear segments 54 as the lever elements by which the guide shoes 24 are interconnected. The trunnion 56 of each guide shoe pivotally connects the shoe with one of these lever elements 54 and said elements are fulcrummed on pivots 58 supported by ears or lugs 60 extending from the stile member 62 of the elevator oar frame. Lateral movement of one of the guide shoes 24 caused by a misalignment of its guide rail 22 will rock the connected segment or lever element 54 slightly about its fulcrum pivot 58, thus causing the other segment 54 to be rocked in the opposite direction. The spacing between the guide shoes 24 is thus Varied to correspond to the variation in spacing of the rails 22 and the car moves smoothly along the rails without binding or undue friction, while the bearing pressure is divided equally between the two guide shoes 24.

The fragmentary structure shown in Fig. 7 may be understood as a part of a relatively large elevator car having vertical stiles 64 disposed at or adjacent the four corners of the car platform only two of these stiles being shown in the view. They are connected at the upper ends by a beam 66, and cross beams 68 extend from the stiles at one side of the car to those at the other side. Diagonal tie rods 10 provide additional bracing for this type of frame. With this arrangement the two parallel guide rails for one side of the car are spaced apart more widely than in the forms heretofore described, said rails 7/2, 12 being located respectively adjacent the stiles 64, 64 of the car frame. Each of the corresponding guide shoes 14 is pivotally attached to the upstanding arm 16 of a bell crank lever 78 while the shorter arm of the lever is in the form of a gear segment 80 having teeth 82, as shown in Fig. 8, designed to mesh with the teeth of a bevel gear pinion 84. The pinion 84 which is thus connected to one of the levers l8, and the pinion 84 which meshes with the segmental portion of the other lever 18 are both rigidly secured to a common shaft 88 journalled on the beam 66 so that the movement of one lever arm I6 about its fulcrum pivot 88 is accompanied by an equal and opposite movement of the arm 16 of the other lever 18. The guide shoes 14 are thus permitted to accommodate themselves to irregularities in the spacing of the guide rails l2 to prevent undue friction or binding and to permit equal distribution of the bearing pressures against the two rails 12, 12.

It will be recognized that in all the forms of the invention above described, the structure shown is that associated with only one side of the elevator, and that this structure will be duplicated at the opposite side. In each of the modifications the guide shoes for the two parallel guide rails are mounted upon lever elements, which term is intended to include the segmental gear 54 of Fig. 6, and in each form of the invention the lever elements are interconnected so as to cause simultaneous movement of the guide shoes laterally of the rails and in opposite directions. Each of the described arrangements permits the connected member of the car frame to be carried midway between the two guide shoes at all times while the spacing between the shoes may vary as they travel along the guide rails, if the rails are not strictly parallel to each other.

While there are shown and described herein several structures embodying the invention, it may be understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby but embraces all modifications, variations and equivalents which may come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of lever elements fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, pivot means connecting one shoe to one arm of one lever element, pivot means connecting the other shoe to one arm of the other lever element, and means interconnecting said lever elements for simultaneous movement in opposite directions about their respective fulcrums.

2. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of lever elements fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, pivot means connecting one shoe to one arm of one lever element, pivot means connecting the other shoe to one arm of the other lever element, and means interconnecting said lever elements proportioned to insure equal and opposite simultaneous movement of said elements about their respective fulcrums.

3. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of lever elements fulcrumed 0n the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, pivot means connecting one shoe to one arm of one lever element, pivot means connecting the other shoe to one arm of the other lever element, and means mechanically interconnecting said lever elements and adapted to vary the pressure of one guide shoe against its rail in response to variations in the pressure of the other guide shoe against the rail which it engages.

4. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, and means mechanically interconnecting said guide shoes for equal and opposite movement simultaneously and transversely of the guide rails, whereby the lateral pressure of the rails against the shoes is equalized independently of variations in the spacing of the rails.

5. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, bracket means attached rigidly to the car, a pair of levers fulcrumed on said bracket means at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, pivot means connecting one shoe to one arm of one lever, pivot means connecting the other shoe to one arm of the other lever, and a link connecting the other arms of said levers together for simultaneous movement about their fulcrums.

6. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of similar levers fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, pivot means connecting one shoe to one arm of one lever, pivot means connecting the other shoe to one arm of the other lever, said pivotal connections being at equal distances from the respective lever fulcrums, said levers having additional arms of equal length, and means connecting said other arms together for equal and opposite simultaneous movement about their fulcrums to distribute the pressure of the guide shoes equally between the two rails.

I. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, link means connecting said levers and maintaining them in substantially parallel relation to each other, pivot means connecting one: of the guide shoes to one of said levers above its fulcrum, and pivot means connecting the other guide shoe to the other lever below its fulcrum to cause said shoes to move simultaneously in opposite directions.

8. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, pivot means connecting said guide shoes to said levers respectively, and toothed gearing by which said levers are connected for simultaneous movement about their fulcrums, such movement being adapted to cause movement of the guide shoes in directions to vary the spacing between them.

9. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, each lever having an arm extending in a generally vertical direction from its fulcrum, and pivot means connecting the guide shoes to said lever arms respectively, said levers having portions extending toward each other with segmental gear teeth on said portions operatively connecting said levers for simultaneous movement about their fulcrums in opposite directions to Vary the spacing between the guide shoes.

10. An elevator guide device for use with and operating between a single pair of guide rails disposed in substantially parallel relation at one side of an elevator car, said device comprising a pair of guide shoes formed to engage and follow said rails respectively, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the car at axes respectively adjacent the two guide rails, each lever having an arm extending in a generally vertical direction from its fulcrum, and pivot means connecting the guide shoes to said lever arms respectively, said levers having mutually meshing segmental gear teeth which interconnect them for simultaneous movement about their fulcrums in opposite directions to distribute the pressure of the guide shoes between the two rails.

LAWRENCE F. JASEPH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS? Number Name Date 972,252 Rogers Oct. 11, 1910 1,324,451 Hoffer Dec. 9, 1919 2,234,522 Fleet et a1. Mar. 11, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 13,122 Great Britain of 1909 

